Mood and Tone

“When you hear the word nude, there’s a connotation of sexiness,” says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. So if the aphorism that sex sells is, in fact, true, look for sales at beauty counters to really heat up this spring. Bare tones—from buff to bronze to chocolate brown—are all the rage. Urban Decay’s supersuccessful Naked franchise continues to grow exponentially with extensions ranging from nail polish to bb cream to blush, while pop star Rihanna—never shy about exposure—has named her newest scent Nude. Estée Lauder, L’Oréal, Physicians Formula and Revlon have all joined the bare bandwagon, too, and no wonder. Says Eiseman, “Nude always suggests a sense of bareness, the naked human body, conveying a subtle but very sensual feeling.”